Thursday, December 19, 2013

Making Plans for the Future

Can you believe the New Year is just around the corner? As a younger person I never really thought much about the New Year beyond how/where to celebrate with friends and family. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself looking at the New Year, less as just a time to celebrate and more as a time to take stock and reevaluate my life and goals for the future. What do I want my future to look like and how can I make those things happen? The New Year is just a natural time to consider making changes to ensure a good future. It’s a great time to really think about the things I’m doing now and how they will affect the future I hope to build. Is how I’m living my life now working toward my plans for the future? How do I want to Get Old? Get Oldis an initiative developed by Pfizer to challenge people of all ages to rethink what it means to Get Old and take a more active role in their health and quality of life at every age.

For me, and I would imagine a whole lot of other people, this includes planning for maintaining good mental and physical health in the future. Sure good genes play a role in our health as we age but taking charge of how we live our lives can make a huge difference in future health and well-being. Being mentally and physically strong as I get older is important to me so this year I’m resolving to take simple steps help ensure both as I age.

My New Year’s resolutions usually include some vague plan to lose a little weight, get more exercise and eat better. I've found I have better success when I’m accountable to someone. This past year I've done pretty well sticking to my exercise goals from last year by meeting my friend every morning to walk. We motivate each other by having a plan to meet and walk our neighborhood first thing every day. Having that accountability to has made a huge difference in me actually sticking to my goal to get more exercise. My goal for this year is to continue this and also add in some workout classes. I've found I need really need the accountability and motivation of an organized workout plan. I don’t stick with it otherwise.

Another big resolution for me this year is eating better. I know this is one of those resolutions that everyone makes but this is something that has been really difficult for me since Hubs has taken a job that keeps him away from home for long stretches of time. Eating alone, I tend to just do whatever is most convenient, which is usually not the healthiest choice. One of my concrete plans to reach this goal is to eat breakfast every day. That may sound easy for some but I almost NEVER eat breakfast even though I’m well aware that it’s “the most important meal of the day!” So I’m resolving to eat breakfast every day. I’m planning to try to eat things like this Apple Pie Oatmeal. It can be made make ahead and is so easy, I’ll have no excuse for not sticking with my resolution!

I have found that when I stick to both of these goals I feel better not only physically but mentally as well. Another resolution I’m making toward mental “fitness” is continuing to pursue my passion for cake decorating by building up my small business and striving to learn new techniques and methods to take my skill set to the next level.

These are just a few of the things that come to mind for me as I think about resolutions and goals for the upcoming New Year. What are you doing to Get Old well? Tell us atGetOld.comand join the conversation onTwitter.com/GetOldandFacebook.com/GetOld.I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by Pfizer and Get Old. I received compensation for this post. All opinions stated are my own. Get Old is a registered trademark of Pfizer Inc.